Clinical Gerontologist: Reflections on its Past, Present, and Future

This issue of Clinical Gerontologist arrives with its usual array of clinically meaningful scientific papers including papers addressing assessment and treatment of depression in older adults as they relate to emerging concepts such as “mindfulness,” “self-compassion,” and “trait hope” in impacting clinical outcomes. These interesting, important, and clinically applicable papers represent a strong tradition of publication within Clinical Gerontologist. As we transition editorial roles in the journal, we would like to reflect on how we arrived and where we are going.

Tribute to the journal’s founder

Clinical Gerontologist was founded by T.L. Brink, PhD, of Crafton Hills College in Redlands, California with Volume 1 dating back to the late 1970s. It soon became a favorite of researchers and practitioners working with older adults. In the days before the Internet, manuscripts were mailed in triplicate to Dr. Brink at his Redlands address, who then mailed copies to select reviewers for evaluation and patiently awaited their return. After review, authors could count on a personal letter from Dr. Brink to reveal the outcome. With great diligence and minimal support from other professionals in Gerontology, Dr. Brink labored to position Clinical Gerontologist (CG) among the respectable gerontologically focused journals existing at that time. To this aim Dr. Brink successfully employed a number of strategies, such as selecting high quality papers published in CG focused on a specific theme of interest to scholars and clinicians of the day, and then including them in edited books. In the early days he sometimes would bring many published copies of the CG to conventions via suitcase and distribute them freely among professionals to heighten their interest in the mission of the journal and in gerontology itself. Several manuscripts published under the tutelage of Dr. Brink remain classics in the field and are highly cited to this day, such as Yesavage and Sheikh’s (Yesavage and Sheikh, 1986) article presenting the short version of the Geriatric Depression Scale, which even in 2015 was among the top 10 most downloaded articles from the journal. CG was one of the first journals to emphasize the importance of clinical contributions from multiple disciplines interested in the clinical problems confronting older adults. The journal became a benchmark in this arena, influencing many of the journals that followed.

Changing of the guard

In the early years after the turn of the century, Dr. Brink invited Drs. Gallagher-Thompson and Thompson to assume the role of co-editors, and after a number of discussions with Dr. Brink and the publisher over the better part of a year, they assumed the role as Co-Editors-in-Chief of CG. In 2009 Taylor and Francis bought the journal from Hayworth, and modified the format to be consistent with other scholarly journals in their portfolio. Drs. Gallagher-Thompson and Thompson maintained the journal’s important niche in applied gerontology while building upon the journal’s research standards. The new Co-Editors brought expertise in both intervention and assessment, maintaining the journal’s attention to both aspects of practice. They built a strong editorial staff including Dr. Victor Molinari and Dr. Daniel Segal who have served as Associate Editors from the time of the transition until now. Drs. Marie Savundranayagam, Jennifer Moye and Lisa Brown later joined the editorial staff in that order.

The Editorial Staff was committed to highlighting research on older adults from diverse backgrounds as well as manuscripts submitted by international authors. In 2015 the journal subtitle changed to “perspectives on diversity, behavioral health, and aging” to reflect the journal’s commitment to diverse perspectives on aging and as well as a broader framework for promoting the well-being of older adults across emotional, functional, behavioral, and cognitive domains. In addition to their stewardship as Editors, Drs. Gallagher-Thompson and Thompson were important contributors to the journal. For example, a review of “International Perspectives on Nonpharmacological Best Practices for Dementia Family Caregivers” by Dr. Gallagher-Thompson and colleagues (Gallagher-Thompson, et al., 2012) published in 2012 is the most highly cited article from the journal in the past 5 years.

Clinical Gerontology in a digital age

Beginning with issue No. 2 in 2016, Dr. Jennifer Moye has now assumed the role of Editor in Chief. Drs. Thompson and Gallagher-Thompson will contribute as Editors in Chief Emeritus, serving in both an “Associate Editor” role and providing more general stewardship as needed. Drs. Molinari, Segal, Savundranayagam and Brown will continue as Associate Editors. Dr. Moye aims to continue the traditions of the journal set by Drs. Gallagher-Thompson and Thompson while also responding to emerging trends in the needs of readers and in journal publishing.

Sustaining and growing scientific review and indexing

The journal is currently indexed in 20 indexing and abstracting services including EBSCO, PsychINFO, and CINAHL. Application for indexing in other sources such as Medline is ongoing. With the proliferation of scientific indexing and growing access to the journal via online searching, in the future the journal will pay increasing attention to the quality of the abstract as many readers access the abstract through these indexing services, and use it to determine whether to proceed further. In a world of ever-increasing online information it is critical that the abstracts convey the key findings of each manuscript clearly, concisely, and accurately.

Ultimately a journal sinks or swims on the quality of its submissions and, very critically, on the quality of the review process. Detailed constructive reviews can make a good article great. As online journals proliferate and requests to review articles proliferate as well, CG will strive to maintain its cohort of talented, selfless reviewers while welcoming new reviewers to the fold. Toward that end, any reader interested in serving as a reviewer may indicate their willingness to serve directly to Dr. Moye ([email protected]). An attempt is made to balance reviewer expertise within the subject matter considering both the scientific merit and clinical application. The editorial staff will work closely with reviewers in efforts to minimize review time for authors while maintaining the quality and integrity in the review process.

In some quarters much attention is focused on a journal’s “impact factor.” As mentioned in the previous issue, under the leadership of Drs. Gallagher-Thompson and Thompson the journal’s 5-year impact factor has surfaced and risen to 1.02. Impact factors rise by virtue of citations which of course are related to the quality of submissions, the range of indexing sources, and the availability of online access. While continuing to build the journal’s scientific impact factor, CG will perhaps always be most interested in whether its articles can make a difference in the lives of older adults—an impact factor much harder to quantify.

Expanding online access

In 2008 there were 83 full-text downloads of articles from CG. By 2014 this number had sky-rocketed to 25,525, a 300% increase in 7 years, reflecting the growing online usage of the journal. Among the most highly downloaded articles are “Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Aging Concerns” by Douglas Kimmel (2014), “Neurocognitive Disorders in Aging: A Primer on DSM-5 Changes and Framework for Application to Practice” by Foley and Heck (2014), and “Implementing Person-Centered Care in Residential Dementia Care” by Stein-Parbury, Chenoweth, Jeon, Broadaty, Hass, and Norman (2012) in a special issue edited by Associate Editor Marie Savundranayagam. In fact, the special issue on patient-centered care is the most widely downloaded issue of all time. These usage data reflect the journal’s growing accessibility—and its dedication to diversity, long term care, and practitioner resources.

CG uses an “Open Select” option in which authors can pay an article processing charge to make the publication available upon publication as open access. This maintains the journal’s commitment to the integrity of fee-free publication while permitting open access for authors who may find such access important to their research careers. In addition, every Taylor & Francis author who publishes in a subscription journal gets 50 free eprints to share with colleagues as soon as their article is published online. Further, Taylor and Francis periodically make curated selections of articles from CG available as free access. In celebration of Drs. Gallagher-Thompson and Thompson’s editorial contributions, during several months in 2016 a group of articles selected by the Editors Emeritus will be available for free download by all.

For those individuals and libraries who value the printed page, the journal will continue to appear in print. Beginning in 2016, the journal will be printed on a yearly basis with all 5 issues bound together. Individual subscription to the printed version is available for $198 U.S. dollars. These bound volumes are certain to hold a well-worn place on the shelf of any gerontologist.

Linking a community of scholars and practitioners

It is hard to say what is more rewarding about working in gerontology: the pleasure of working with older adults or the pleasure of being part of a close community. CG has always celebrated this community. For example, Dr. Brink began each issue of CG with a letter always titled “fellow clinical gerontologists.” It is hoped that CG can continue to be a vehicle within which practitioners and scholars meet to advance care of those we serve and to nurture careers of clinical gerontologists across the professional lifespan. As one measure of CG’s commitment to nurturing careers, Drs. Gallagher-Thompson and Thompson introduced a journal section for “New and Emerging Professionals” aimed to support contributions by new scholars, which will continue into the future.

In valuing community, CG hopes to continue its relationship with professional societies including Psychologists in Long Term Care (PLTC). Such collaborations aim to be mutually beneficial, providing resources to members while giving exposure to PTLC within CG’s promotional outreach. In addition, members of the American Society on Aging and National Council on Aging receive discounted rates. In the future CG hopes to extend its affiliations with other professional organizations.

Increasingly, clinicians and researchers gather in social media. Beginning in 2015 CG is a component of the publisher’s Gerontology Facebook page (www.facebook.com/RoutledgeGerontology) with the goal of promoting gerontology books, journals and influential news relevant to the field. In addition Taylor and Francis now tracks online discussion of articles in social media (e.g., Twitter) using the “altmetric” calculation. Interested authors may consult the “author resource page” to learn more about discussing their contributions in social media (http://authorservices.taylorandfrancis.com/).

As Clinical Gerontologist approaches its 40^th birthday it celebrates four decades of valuing practice-oriented research and scholarship in clinical gerontology made possible by the dedication of its contributors, reviewers, editors, and readers to improving the lives of older adults. Fellow clinical gerontologists: thank you for being part of the CG community. We look forward to your participation in the future.